Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
March 14th, 2008 | 6:00 pm est |
No matter how much Crystal Castles insist they’re named after She-Ra’s fortress and not the 1983 arcade favorite, thanks to the Atari sound chips in their keyboards, their music evokes vintage video game soundtracks — albeit ones that have been folded, spindled and mutilated almost past recognition. On their self-titled debut, Crystal Castles (a.k.a. Ethan Kath and Alice Glass) hurl 8-bit bleeps, bloops and noise as relentlessly as Space Invaders marching down a screen, turning these sounds into sometimes chaotic, sometimes moody synth-pop with a jagged edge. Though their low-res synths can’t help but sound nostalgic (and song titles like “Air War” and “Reckless” sound like forgotten games), Crystal Castles is fresher, more complex and much less gimmicky than might be expected, especially for those familiar with only the band’s singles. Granted, those singles are still some of Crystal Castles’ definitive tracks: The darkly, violently catchy “Alice Practice” pits Glass’ serrated but melodic shout-singing against rippling, strafing and strobing synth onslaughts, and “Crimewave” gives that sound a brooding groove.
However, Crystal Castles go wider and deeper on the rest of the album, teetering between order and chaos, noise and melody, and energy and atmosphere in ways that are unpredictable but consistently interesting. Glass is a chameleon, terrifying on one track and kittenish on another. She’s a black-eyed, short-circuiting android on “Xxzxcuzx Me,” singing of “robotic love” as her voice degrades into pixels almost as soon as she opens her mouth, and a spaced-out valley girl bopping to “Good Time”’s deceptively cheery pulse. Indeed, a remarkable amount of melancholy haunts Crystal Castles, from the eerie keening on the Knife-like opening track “Untrust Us” to the danceable gloom of “Vanished” and the wistful, almost serene “Magic Spells” — all of which throw freakouts like the claustrophobic electro bump ‘n’ grind “Love and Caring” into even brasher contrast. By the time Crystal Castles winds down with “Tell Me What to Swallow”’s ethereal cooing and guitars, it’s clear that Kath and Glass are already looking for more ways to expand on this familiar-sounding, edgy, innocent, menacing, bold, nuanced and altogether striking debut.
That’s all well and good but these assholes scheduled a show in my city, didn’t show up to the concert due to “illness” and didn’t offer refunds for the tickets! Not cool!
Cut em slack, car accident, broken rib, healing. If the venue didn’t offer refunds that’s their issue.
Awww finall getting some notice. air war is MmMmmm good.
To Scoooob,
They were in a car accident and Alice Glass broke her ribs. If you still expect them to play after that your opinion is not valid.
Crystal Castles aren’t bad, but they’re getting credit for something they really have not pioneered. Anyone remember the chipmusic craze? Netlabels like 8bitpeoples and micromusic.net have been giving out stuff that is more innovative, scarier, funkier, cooler, etc. than Crystal Castles for about a decade, yet Crystal Castles more un-nerdy image has won through. I’m not saying they’re bad (they do have some good tracks, especially Alice Practice and Air War), but Psilodumputer and YMCK are infintely superior in terms of the video game sounds, while Receptors and Coleco Music nail the ‘claustrophobic electro’ thing far better. And Crystal Castles’ remixes are laughable.
isn’t ethan from kill cheerleader?
Yeah, he is.
Don’t forget the fact they stole a Trevor Brown artwork for use on their first EP without his permission and credit, nor have they subsequently paid him for its use - even though they still churn out t-shirts and cd’s etc with the stolen image.
http://www.pileup.com/babyart/blog/?p=81
I love their debut album, captures a lot of what makes the Knife so awesome, as well as the 1980s 8-bit feel as well. Why anyone would want to see them live is beyond me (dancing would be fun I guess).
Steve also is totally correct about them getting credit for something they have not pioneered. 8bitpeoples has been around for a long time.
Hmmm - I saw this lot playing in York, England and all I could sense was that it mainly involved wailing over some guy and his laptop, backed with a drummer who wasn’t mike’d. Oh, and UV lights and black eye makeup. If there were vintage keyboards and synths involved, they must have been really well-hidden. Bedroom music. Their manager managed to make them look like complete dicks telling my mate to get out of the dressing room as they needed “down time”. Ouch, not the best impression.
Wow! I think Crystal Castles are going to go places. I’ve been reading about them all over. Good article.
this album sucks, what’s the big deal, you get a group that sounds like video game music from nintendo, with bad melodies and lyrics, poor song structure and total lack of talent? This band sucks and they’re not creative either, “add n to x” anyone? I can name a bunch of bands that do this 10 times better (ladytron)
All that matters is that the album is great. I believe the hype is justified.
The album is amazing. Best songs I’ve heard in a very long time. I wouldn’t classify them as “8-bit” or get hung up on the tag. There’s some “8-bit” elements of course but I think there’s more “emotional” substance than “8-bit” substance in their music.